A Different Life
by Pepper9873
Summary: Set in Season Six. After having an argument with Tom, B'Elanna gets the chance to see how her life would have been, had she continued her relationship with Max Burke.


A/N: This came to me this morning, so of course I had to write it. I thought it would be nice to share my idea of what B'Elanna's life would have turned out, if she had stayed with Max. Hopefully you all enjoy it. Please leave a review if you read it. Now for something that's the same in every universe, my disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the story. They are the respectful property of Paramount; I just write stories about them.

* * *

B'Elanna entered her dimly lit quarters and went to work on the bundle of PADDs she had brought in with her. After a long work day, she had been unable to go through her crew reports, leaving her with even more work to do on her time off. As she went through the first PADD, the chime sounded on her door.

"Come in," she answered, though she really didn't need the distraction.

The door opened, and Tom walked in, holding a bouquet of flowers in his right hand. "Care to join me for dinner?"

"Not right now, Tom."

"Oh, come on. This isn't just an ordinary dinner."

"I can't; I have work to do. Besides, what in the universe could make one dinner more special then the rest?"

"How about our second year anniversary?"

"I forgot," she admitted. "Can I make it up to you?"

"Dinner is a start."

"Fine, but I'm taking a few of these with me." She scooped up several of the PADDs into her arm and followed Tom out the door.

_*_

They entered the holo-deck a few minutes later. A romantic French-set table awaited them on the balcony of a fine hotel that overlooked the Eiffel Tower. Tom placed the flowers in a vase on the table, and held out a chair for B'Elanna to sit on. "Mademoiselle," he said in his best faux French accent.

B'Elanna smiled lightly and sat down in the chair.

Tom sat down across from her, and I waiter came in with two covered dishes. He uncovered them and left the two to enjoy their meals.

"Shrimp Alfredo?" B'Elanna asked as she examined the food before her.

"Well, I know you don't like French cuisine too much, so I went with Italian."

B'Elanna nodded, and began to pick at the food before her. Between bites, she went to work on the PADDs she had brought along with her.

"So, how did your day go?" Tom asked in an attempt to start a conversation and bring B'Elanna's attention away from the PADDs for the time being.

"Okay," she replied without looking at him.

"Just 'okay'?"

She nodded again.

"Do you mind putting down the PADD for five seconds?" he asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"Yes, I do. I told you I still have work to do."

"And it can't wait until _after_ dinner?"

"No, Tom, it can't. If you didn't make me come here, I would have had it done by now."

"I did _not_, make you come; you're the one who wanted to make up for forgetting our anniversary."

"But you're the one who said dinner would do it."

"Yeah, well that was obviously a mistake."

"Obviously," B'Elanna agreed.

"Computer, end program."

The program ended, causing both plates of partially eaten food and B'Elanna's PADDs to come crashing to the floor.

"What did you do that for?" B'Elanna asked as she picked the PADDs off the floor.

Tom began to pick up the food and the dishes. "Because dinner wasn't helping."

"Helping what?"

"Us, B'Elanna. We haven't been able to see each other in almost two days, and the one time we get to spend with each other, you're busy working."

"You're such a child."

"I am not," Tom protested.

"Really? You want me to spend every single free moment I have with you, and when you don't get your way you throw a tantrum."

"If that's how you see it, fine, you can share your free time with yourself, or whoever else you want to share it with." Tom stood up and began to walk the dishes out of the holo-deck.

"You know, sometimes I wish I never met you!" B'Elanna screamed.

Tom turned around to face her. "So do I." He stormed out of the room.

B'Elanna picked up a PADD and was about to throw it at his retreating form, until she realized she needed it. "Would have been a waste of a PADD anyway," she said to herself. She gathered the rest of the PADDS and walked out.

*

Back in her quarters, B'Elanna was still fuming over her argument with Tom. Luckily, she had managed to finish with her reports in record time without Tom as a distraction, and now had the rest of the night to herself.

She paced back and forth, contemplating whether or not to go reconcile with him, or just never see him again. She found herself getting tired, so she decided to sleep on her decision. She hastily put on pajamas, and curled up into her bed for the night.

*

The next morning, B'Elanna awoke to bright sunshine, birds chirping, and light kisses being placed on her bare shoulder. Her eyes shot open. Something was off; there was no way birds would be chirping in space. Her eyes scanned around for a window, and quickly located it. Sure enough, she saw a beautiful spring morning, with plenty of song birds filling the air.

"Morning, sweetheart," a man's voice said. It wasn't Tom's voice that said it though, but she knew the man never the less. She quickly tried to match the voice to a face, and remembered the voice belonging to Maxwell "Max" Burke, her ex-boyfriend she had dated during her time at the Academy.

"Max? What are you doing here?"

"Is that a question you should be asking your husband?"

_My husband?_ B'Elanna thought. "I just thought you weren't going to be home until later on today," she said, hoping that it would somehow work out in the current situation.

"Me too, but we finished the mission early, so now I'm here." He leaned over her, and gently turned her head so he could kiss her on the lips.

She kept her lips tightly pursed, then slowly let them part as she remembered to keep up with the charade. As she kissed Max back, she remembered one of the reasons why she hadn't pursued the relationship further. He was a terrible kisser. Not truly meaning to, she began to compare Max's kisses to Tom's. Although both of their kisses were very passionate, Max's were hard and forced, where Tom's came naturally -probably from having the practice from all his past girlfriends- and were tender.

Max finally broke off, leaving B'Elanna gasping for air. He looked at the chronometer on the bedside table. "You might want to get in the shower."

"Why?" B'Elanna asked still somewhat breathlessly.

"Because you have a lecture on warp theory to get to in thirty minutes."

"I thought that was tomorrow," B'Elanna said, hoping to fish more information out of Max.

"No, it's at 0800 today in the gym."

"What gym?"

"The one at the Academy. Honestly, sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours."

"A lot of things." B'Elanna got out of the bed, and went about gathering clothes and other things for her shower.

She went into the bathroom, closed the door, and began to undress. As she entered the shower, she noticed that it only had the equipment needed for water. Grudgingly, she turned it on and fiddled with the nozzle until the water temperature was suitable.

She turned the water off as soon as she was sure that she was completely clean. She pulled the curtain away, and found a familiar man, but not Max, standing in front of her. She screamed and quickly wrapped the towel she had placed on the counter around herself.

"Hello, Lieutenant," the man greeted.

"Q? You did this didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Why? What's happening?"

"Don't worry, B'Elanna, -I can call you B'Elanna, right? - everything will be just fine, and I'll answer all your questions, one at a time. So which question do you want answered first?"

"What's happening?"

"Have you ever heard of an alternate universe?" Q asked.

"Yeah. But only in theory."

"Ha, theory. It's truth. For every decision that a person makes, there are different possibilities on how that person's life would play out depending on the choices that they make."

"Isn't that an alternate reality?"

"Well, yes. But depending on how big the decisions are, it creates an alternate universe."

"So you're saying that the decisions I made in life were big enough to create a different universe?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. When you decided to quit Starfleet to join the Maquis, you caused Voyager to follow Chakotay's ship into the Badlands and ultimately into the Delta Quadrant. And by doing that, you caused Starfleet to create the Pathfinder project and devote a good amount of resources into finding you.

"But, in this universe, you never quit Starfleet. You graduated with top honors, married Max, and started teaching the engineering classes for the fourth year students. And since you did that, the Maquis never went to the Badlands, and Voyager isn't even in existence."

"So what happened to everyone else? Harry, Captain Janeway, Chakotay? " She paused. "Tom?"

"There lives went in the direction they would have gone if they did not make the choices they had in your universe."

"Okay. Now, why are you doing this?"

"I'm giving you the chance to see how your life would have played out for the day. At the end, I'm going to give you the choice to continue with this life, or go back to the one you know so well."

"And why are you doing that?"

"It's a part of the whole 'omnipotent' thing. Every once and awhile, you have to do something kind for a lesser being."

"So why didn't you just send Voyager back to the Alpha Quadrant?"

"Because, that would mess with the timeline. But this doesn't, because it would have happened anyway…"

B'Elanna cut him off. "If I didn't choose to join the Maquis; I get it," she finished the rest of the sentence for him.

"Good. Now, I'll let you carry on with the rest of your day, and I'll be back at 1800 hours, sharp. And you better have your decision by then."

"Got it."

Q put his fingers together, and readied himself to snap away.

"Wait, one more question before you leave."

"What is it?" he asked in his annoyed tone.

"Why didn't Max come running through the door when I screamed?"

"Oh, that. I had stopped time when I got here so that way you can have the full experience. It will start again once I leave." And with that, Q left the room.

B'Elanna sat down on the toilet. She had never thought that the choices she made had such a huge affect on her life. She always believed that they were minor, and really didn't have a role in the things that happened. But as she thought about it, they really did shape her life.

She soon remembered the lecture she had to get to, and quickly began to dress. Five minutes later, she came out of the bathroom to find Max fast asleep on the bed. She watched him sleep for a few seconds before grabbing her bag and walking out the door. She thought about quickly kissing him on the head, just to keep up appearances, but decided against it. She carefully shut the door behind her.

*

"Are there anymore questions?" B'Elanna asked the 100 plus students crowded into the gym at the end of her lecture. She carefully scanned the room for any raised hands. When she found none, she added, "Alright, so that concludes the lecture. Dismissed."

The students carefully shuffled out of the room.

A female cadet came up onto the platform, and patiently waited for B'Elanna to put her stuff away before addressing her. "Your lecture was wonderful, Commander." The girl's lightly freckled face sported a huge smile.

"Thank you, Cadet."

The cadet's smile widened, and she gracefully hopped down the stairs. Her blonde ponytail bobbing as she went.

B'Elanna grabbed her things and exited the gym. As she passed through the door, she saw Max standing before her with a box of chocolates in his hand. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Did you have a nice time?" he asked, as he handed her the chocolates and took her bag from her.

"I would say so." She unwrapped the box, and plopped one of the chocolates into her mouth.

"They didn't ask you too many questions?" He offered his arm to her.

She looped hers around it. Swallowing the last bite of chocolate, she replied, "Well _they_ didn't ask me too many questions, but this one cadet kept asking me how every part made me feel."

Max laughed.

"It's not funny. He was seriously annoying me."

"Come on. You have to admit it's sort of funny."

"Maybe it is."

"I told you. Are you hungry?"

"Famished, why?"

"I was thinking we could get some lunch at the cafeteria. Just like old times."

"Alright." She didn't care for cafeteria food like Max did, but at this point she was willing to take anything.

They entered the cafeteria and grabbed two trays of spaghetti. They found an empty table and sat down.

"So, what else is on today's agenda?" B'Elanna asked as she poked the spaghetti with her fork.

"Don't tell me you forgot everything."

"Just humor me."

"Well, we're free for the afternoon, but at 1300 we have to get to Admiral Paris' party."

B'Elanna nodded and forced a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth, much to Max's approval.

*

"You know what I don't get?" B'Elanna asked Max as they walked up the steps to the Paris' doorway.

"What don't you get?"

"Why we have to get dressed up for a party."

"It's not just any party, everyone in Starfleet is here."

"I still don't see why we have to get dressed up," she said under her breath.

Max rang the chime, and Admiral Paris opened the door.

"I'm so glad you could make it," he said cheerfully.

"We wouldn't have missed it for the world, Admiral," Max replied.

"Please, call me Owen. For the time being that is. It is a party you know." He moved aside to let the two in. "May I add, you look spectacular tonight, Commander Torres."

B'Elanna smiled.

"Thank you. And you can call me B'Elanna."

"Of course. The formalities are sort of hard to come out of."

Admiral Paris escorted them through the large living room. He stopped at a group consisting of six people. "Let me introduce you to my family. This is my wife, Linda. My daughters, Jessica, Elizabeth, and Ashley. And my son, Tom, and his fiancée Megan.

"Everyone, this is Commander Maxwell Burke, and his wife Commander B'Elanna Torres."

"Nice to meet all of you," B'Elanna said as casually as she could. _So Tom is engaged to Megan Delaney in this universe_, she thought as she shook their hands.

"Nice to meet you as well. Owen tells me a lot about the fine job you're doing teaching the fourth year cadets," Linda said.

"Really?"

"Really," Tom responded. He flashed her a brilliant smile.

"So, you're getting married. Congratulations."

"Thank you," Megan replied.

"Have you picked a date yet?"

"No, but we were thinking sometime in June."

"One of the busiest times to get married, but also a very beautiful time," Max stated.

"I know, it's really clichéd, but I've always loved the summer months. Especially in San Francisco."

"It is definitely a nice time of the year," B'Elanna agreed. "If you'll excuse me, I just need to freshen up a bit."

"Bathroom is up the stairs, and first door to your left," Linda directed.

"Thank you."

B'Elanna walked up the steps, careful not to step on the hem of the overly long dress she was wearing. She reached the top, and thankfully found a chronometer sitting on a table. She looked at the time, and to her disappointment, found that only twenty minutes had passed since 1300.

She was already tired of being in this universe before she came to the party, and seeing Tom with Megan draped around his arm was the final nail in the coffin.

She walked into the bathroom, hoping to be able to summon Q early.

"Q. Q," she whispered, not wanting to be heard by anyone who might pass by.

To her relief, Q appeared before her. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I want to go back"

"But it's not even 1800 yet, and the party is just getting started."

"I don't care. I've made my decision; I want to go home _now_."

"Well, if you want to go back early, I'm going to need an explanation." He folded his arms across his chest.

She took in a deep breath.

"I'm not happy," B'Elanna answered honestly. "I remember now the biggest reason I never stayed with Max. He never made me happy. Sure he tried sometimes, but it wasn't enough. And Tom, he's always trying to make me happy. Even if I don't quite realize that -no matter what- he's always trying to make me happy. And ninety-nine percent of the time he does. I can't believe I've been so selfish with him. All he ever wanted from me was my time, and I couldn't put off a few hours of work to give that to him. Everyone knows he deserved it."

"I think that's a good enough reason." Q snapped his fingers, and a second later, B'Elanna found herself back in her pajamas, and back in her quarters.

"Computer, what time is it?"

"It is 1730 hours"

Only thirty minutes had passed since she had decided to go to bed. Without changing out of her pajamas, B'Elanna raced out of her quarters and headed towards Tom's. If she was lucky, he would still be awake.

*

When she reached Tom's quarters, B'Elanna composed herself, and rang the chime.

"Come in," Tom called from inside.

She entered cautiously. Tom was staring at her from the couch. She walked towards him, and sat on the cushion beside him.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I really am."

Tom remained silent for what seemed like infinity.

"I'm sorry, too," he finally said. "You were right; I do act like a child sometimes."

"No, I wasn't. I should have left the work for later. You're more important to me."

"I feel the same way." He wrapped his arms around her, and held her tightly to his chest.

She relished in the contact and inhaled deeply, trying to get a stronger imprint of his scent into her head.

"You're a way better kisser than Max," she said to his chest.

He pulled her away so he could look at her face.

"What?" he asked, a severely confused look on his face.

"It's a long story," she explained.

"You're going to have to tell it to me one day."

"Of course I will. But right now, I just want to do this." She pulled his face down to hers, and kissed him fiercely.


End file.
